The School of Chemical Sciences (SCS) at the University of Illinois proposes to implement a training program at the Chemistry - Biology interface that will enroll 10 predoctoral students per year (5 2nd yr and 5 3rd yr students). The program will, through shared experiences in the classroom and in the laboratory, produce a cadre of chemists, chemical and biomolecular engineers, and biologists who share a common language. Program graduates will be prepared to assume leadership positions in industry and academe and will be capable of functioning in multidisciplinary teams poised to make major advances in biology and medicine. Twenty-five faculty from two deparments in the SCS and four in the School of Molecular &Cellular Biology - Chemistry, Chemical &Biomolecular Engineering, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Cell &Structural Biology, and Molecular &Integrative Physiology- who work at the chemistry-biology interface will serve as faculty mentors. Talented students admitted to the host departments'doctoral programs will form the pool of candidates for the program. They will receive the PhD from their department after completing both the requirements for that department's program and the course sequence for the CBI.Program completion will take between four and five years. Prospective students will be recruited from among universities nationwide. Underrepresented minority students will be recruited through several UIUC campus-based programs (MERGE, HURF, SROP), through attendance at SACNAS and ACBRMS meetings, through interaction with MARC program directors, and through targeted partnerships with institutions having large minority enrollments. A biological-chemistry undergraduate concentration will also provide a pipeline into CBI training programs nationwide. Roger Adams Lab, the Chemistry and Life Sciences Laboratory, Noyes Lab, and the soon-to-be-completed Institute for Genomic Biology house faculty laboratories, seminar rooms, student and fabrication facilities. The Beckman Institute and the Biotechnology Center house additional facilities.